Happy Sunday everyone,
December 13th,
2020.
I hope your day has been well at whatever day and point that you're listening to this at.
I encourage you just in this moment to pause and close your eyes.
Just notice and feel the gift of the cool air coming into your nose and filling your body with vital life energy down into your belly.
And then noticing how the air that leaves your body is changed,
It's warmer.
Just feel your body breathe,
The effortlessness of it.
Just finding gratitude for breathing.
Just this ease of your body maintaining your life,
Your life force without your control or manipulation or even your awareness.
It just keeps going.
In fact,
Your whole magnificent body does this.
Keeps pumping your blood and digesting your food and beating your heart and breathing,
Doing a multitude of miraculous things as does nature.
And as you breathe,
You breathe in nature.
You breathe in the vitality from the trees and the soil,
The energy from the sun,
The water,
It is a part of us and we are a part of it.
And so just breathe that in and feel it.
And as you heal and become more of your true self,
You heal and allow the world to feel your energy as well.
As you care for the earth,
As you care for nature,
As you pause and create the kind of world and place and energy you wish to be a part of,
It's small acts,
It's everyday moments that create the larger change.
At times you may wonder what that little bit of picking up garbage or smiling at a stranger really is for.
Can it really make a difference?
And yes,
We need all of those small everyday moments to allow this world to continue to go on and to become a place,
That more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible.
So just breathe that in.
The more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
Can you feel that energy?
And that's the title of a beautiful book I read last year and which I'll start a bit of our guided meditation with.
It's written,
As society becomes increasingly monetized,
Its members accept that money is the key to the fulfillment of any need or desire.
Money,
The universal means,
Becomes therefore a universal end as well.
It becomes a god with an insatiable demand for sacrifice.
The pursuit of it subsumes the small or unquantifiable acts and relationships that make life truly rich,
But that the numbers cannot justify.
When money is the goal,
Everything that cannot be translated into its terms gets squeezed out.
You may have noticed how the little things that make life rich get deprioritized and squeezed out.
And so maybe you ask yourself,
What experience of life am I upholding as an example?
And so what could you do today,
The moments after this meditation and the moments ahead?
What can I do right now to be the light?
We all have some influence on everyone we brush up against,
Even if we never speak or learn each other's names.
How we behave matters because everything is connected.
People,
Plants,
Animals,
The sun,
The moon,
Sadness,
Fear,
And anger,
Yes.
But also patience,
Kindness,
Love,
And generosity,
Which means we all have more influence than we realize.
And it doesn't require a harsh word or fight or battle.
It's just the small things that you do every day.
And I share this story with you.
I was stuck on a bus in New York City during rush hour.
Traffic was barely moving,
And the bus was filled with cold,
Tired people who were deeply irritated with one another,
With the rainy,
Sleety weather,
And with the world itself.
Rage was thick in the air,
And no mercy would be found here.
But then the driver got on the intercom.
Folks,
He said,
I know you've had a rough day,
And you're frustrated.
I can't do anything about the weather or traffic,
But here's what I can do.
As each one of you gets off the bus,
I will reach out my hand to you.
As you walk by,
Drop your troubles into the palm of my hand,
OK?
Don't take your problems home to your families tonight.
Just leave them with me.
My route goes right by the Hudson River,
And when I drive by there later,
I'll open the window and throw your troubles in the water.
Sound good?
It was as if a spell had lifted.
Everyone burst out laughing.
Faces gleamed with surprised delight.
People who'd been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other's existence were suddenly grinning at each other.
Like,
Is this guy serious?
He was serious.
At the next stop,
The driver reached out his hand,
Palm up,
And waited.
One by one,
All the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm.
Some people laughed as they did this,
And some teared up.
But everyone did it,
And the driver repeated the same ritual at the next stop and the next,
All the way to the river.
This guy wasn't some big power player.
He wasn't a spiritual leader.
He wasn't some media-savvy influencer.
He was a bus driver,
One of society's most invisible workers.
But he possessed real power,
And he used it beautifully for our benefit.
And I know in the more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible,
There is space for this.
There is a need for this more than all the other money and things in the world.
I want to be a part of a world where this happens and is recognized.
There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness,
And you long for the light but don't know where to find it.
But what if you are the light?
What if you're the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?
Anyone can be the light at any moment.
No matter who you are or how tough and challenging your situation,
I believe you can illuminate your world one bright act of grace at a time all the way to the river.
Just following your breath,
Breathe that energy in.
These small things every day are what we need and begins with each of us.
Feel the air coming in your nose,
The coolness of it,
And then the warmth.
Take this moment to thank yourself just for carving out some time to be still.
Say thank you for your breath.
Thank you for your life.
Thank you to the sun for its warmth and light,
The trees for their oxygen for how they take care of our air,
Our earth,
The insects and animals,
The predators and prey that allow everything to continue as nature intended.
The birds and all they do to contribute as well,
The water,
The dirt,
And the light of the moon in the dark.
Let's take one last deep full breath together,
Filling your belly and emptying it.
I wish you the most beautiful day and know that together we will create the world,
The more beautiful world our hearts know is possible today and every day.
Namaste means all that I see in myself,
All sides of my personality and everything in between.
I see an honor in myself and I see an honor in you and beyond the personality,
Your needs,
Your joys,
Your heartache.
I see those too as I see them in myself.
I love them in me and I love them in you.
Namaste.
